Elf Fantasy Fair Arcen

Elf Fantasy Fair Arcen, themed Mummies and Pharaohs this year, was held on Saturday, September 15 and Sunday, September 16 on the grounds of Arcen Castle in the Netherlands.

For the 4th year Elf Fantasy Fair held its second edition of the year (the first one is always in Haarzuilens) in Arcen, the Netherlands. Just like every year the beautiful grounds of Arcen Castle proved to be filled with not only things to do but a plethora of things to see. Not only the grounds themselves are beautiful to walk around in, there’s the many shops, events organized by the fair that people can participate it but also the vast majority of the guest dressed up in often elaborate and fantastic costumes ranging from sci-fi, cosplay to of course: steampunk!

For the second year now there was a steampunk park, and while I wasn’t there last year I have it from a very reliable source (lady AyraLeona of our German cousins at The Clockworker) that this time the steampunks were better represented and got a better spot on the grounds. Which is of course great to hear!

Of course all the other things happening at the fair were pretty awesome too but for us steampunks and dieselpunks (because there were a few representing our brother movement just as well) it’s great to hear that we get a good spot at such a big event.

This year’s theme was Mummies & Farao’s, to go further on the Egyptian theme already set that year and of course EFF organized several on theme events and those dressed up following the theme did so with truly wonderful costumes.

The organization is also fantastic, there are plenty of easily recognisable staff around happy to help your questions in a friendly and professional way, they do the effort of making this a proper all ages event and offer so many different things that everyone attending can find something to keep them happily occupied for an entire day, which is very rare at events these days. They also do a great job in putting up info points where you can find little map & program flyers in case you need them which are manned at all times and which I find a definite help for guests. The extend of getting everything organized to such details (even the parking) definitely helps improve the experience for guests as you don’t have to worry about getting lost on the grounds and failing to find proper information.

The food and drink are also pretty diverse and generally reasonably priced, making for a nice change with most conventions and events. I just think they could do with putting up some extra areas for people to sit and eat, but that’s definitely not something that would put me off from going again (I’d definitely attend EFF again!).

And even the things on the program get organized rather quickly among friends with always a kind fellow fair goer to chip in to make things work, making EFF one of the best events to be at in the year for sure!

Of course there isn’t room for my many, many, many steampunk photos (we had a steampunk group shot at 3pm, and of course the aftermath proved an excellent opportunity to shoot photos of fellow steampunks) in this post, so if you want to see the rest, click here.